abf ecu changed, now head gaskets blown! compression results in #fresh results in#

I'd agree with the above, but a pressurised cooling system can often be an early indication of a leak from the hg.

 

since iv had the lump, the coolant has been changed 4 times in 9 months. G12+
its running like a bag of spanners. and the piston thats down isnt really down by that much. well within tolerences

 

Changing your coolant 4 times in 9 months wont change a thing other than your bank balance

 

had to while i had the rad out, crank sensor etc. pretty cheap stuff G12 from the dealers with discount.
im getting the ecu swopped back over monday. and il see how much shes smoking.

 

fingers crossed (again)

 

I've got a gasket leak in the road going scirocco. It's leaking combustion gas into the coolant.

When you first start it, it misfires for 10 seconds (probably a damp plug) and then clears. You can also smell exhaust gas in the expansion tank - easiest done in the morning when it's all cold.

A block tester kit turned yellow when I tried it. I haven't done a compression test.

 

got a friendly chap named wayne coming over with full vag diognostics. swopping over the ecu. seems a knowledgeable chap. hope he can shine some light

 

right, i have done a good 100 miles in the mk2. she only smokes on start up, seems to have full power in all but 5th. maybe. iv no way thrashed, or tested her though.

i was filling up the washer fluid and saw the chassis leg under the airbox was oily. so removed the filter which was half soaked in oil, and found a puddle of clean oil in the bottom of the box. at least 1/5 pint. oil was black, but clean.
traced it back to the block breather. the whole lot was disgusing. the usual amount of mayo too.

any ideas? remember the car was getting death on overrun, in 2nd, 3rd and 4th. then a normal 2 mile drive. then i dropped her from 5th to 3rd, then all the smoke.
when the car smoked at first it really went. im assuming this was when the block shoved most of its oil into the intake at first? seems a catch tank is needed!

iv obviously cleaned up the mess. is it worth doing something like the 'water trick'? to clean the head?

oh, and its still not used a drop of water. not a drop!

 

Is the oil over filled?

I had this in my last mk2 and I cleaned up all the pipes, filter, and air box and kept the oil level bang on the middle of the dipstick and all was groovy.

 

it was at its max. and its never burnt a drop. il try dropping it a little and a get these nasty pipes cleaned up.

 

Good call. Keep us posted. Catch tank idea is not a bad one btw - but might not be needed.

 

iv a pepsi bottle next to me. il try that!

 

small update

just done more warm and then cold(ish) compression tests. all 4 cylinders coming up at just above 14 bar! no.3 plug hole was very oily so i cleaned it up, did 50 miles or so, then tested again. all coming in at 14 bar!!! last time they were all at 12.5 bar, and no.3 at 11 bar!
this is strange. maybe the chambers were all oily from the oil in the airbox/intake
?

it still has not lost any coolant, at all (even though sniff test came up positive when stat opened). still smokes on start up, and for the first 400m smokes when revved. then clears

it seems to have full power, in all but 5th gear. where it used to pull from 30 in 5th, now it just doesn't. it picks up later in the revs, but not as it did. i havent checked the timing yet?

its strange this one? i just cant understand it. rocker cover is leaking out, onto the ecu temp sender, and in the plug holes. so iv picked up a new one from vw, il change the oily plugs for new ones, and get this ecu swopped. see if this problem persits. il give it the water trick too, as alot of oil must of made its way into intake system after the amount i found in the airbox!
any thoughts?

 

Is cylinder 3 a common problem on 16v's then? What's the water trick mate?

 

have a quick search mate. basicallysucking water through a vacume hose into the chambers. steam cleaning them.
it really tried to bog down. seemed alot harder work than on my 8v. really spat out some $hit, then cleared up into white steam/smoke.
im checking the timing tomorrow

 

just done a cold test. all cylinders coming in at 14 bar

 

sounds really healthy then

 

thats just it. it seems it! iv put the massive puff of smoke down to the oil in the airbox/breather system.
but im not sure why the first results came up with a 1.5 bar drop on cy3. maybe it was contaminated.
il swop the ecu, check the timing and give her a full service.

just a refresh on the timing. the abf has 3 points to measure?
the dissy arm pointing to the notch?
the cam gear sprocketd dot lining up with the notch on the cam cover?
the gearbox v nothch pointing to the dot on the fly?

 

did you do the water trick on it?

 

yeah, spat out quite alot of dirt, it bogged down quite abit. im driving it later so il have to see. the plugs this morning after it had cooled were very sooty and black